


Two Confused Men’s Guide To Navigating Modern America

by SilverCurtain



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (kinda), Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26676325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverCurtain/pseuds/SilverCurtain
Summary: After a seemingly normal day sparring in the courtyard, Sokka and Zuko wake up in modern day America with absolutely no explanation. They go to an American high school in an attempt to learn more about the world they’ve been trapped in, whilst back home the rest of the Gaang try to figure out what’s happened to them.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is just a little idea I had! Just to clarify, this is set one year after canon, but is all canon compliant (except the whole waking up in America thing). Enjoy :).

Zuko woke up slowly, a drowsy cloud in his mind clearing at a leisurely pace, his body enveloped with another. He had missed cuddling Sokka. They had always spent time together, holding hands and cuddling, _as friends_ , but until earlier that day, Sokka had been back home in the South Pole for a whole month. They had both written letters, many many letters, but it still wasn’t the same as being with him. He buried his head in the warm crook of the taller boy’s neck, before more clearly hearing the disturbance that was waking him. 

“Hey. Hey! Wake up!” 

Zuko jumped up and habitually got into a fighting stance at the unfamiliar but distinctly female voice. That’s when he noticed that he was no longer in the courtyard of his palace, but instead, he and Sokka were laying on a field. “Who are you? What have you done to us?”

The strange girl laughed and said, “Chill, I just found you and your boyfriend asleep here.”

Panic rising in his chest, he said “Boyfriend? No, no, the Ambassador is just a close friend of mine, but, er, I advise you remain discreet? Oh Agni, please don’t tell anyone, I don’t think my reputation could take this, and my _honour_ -“

“Don’t worry, I saw nothing.” She said winking. 

“Honestly we weren’t doing anything-“

“Yeah, yeah sure. I won’t tell anyone.”

To be fair to Zuko, they hadn’t been doing anything, at least not this time. The last thing they had been doing, as far as he could remember, was sparring. Sokka had been using his meteorite sword, and wearing really tight red fire nation robes, and _Agni_ he looked gorgeous, and Zuko had been using his dual swords, and hey, they were still on his back, clearly this kidnapper wasn’t very good- oh shit he’d been kidnapped. Maybe he should focus on that.

In a single swift motion, Zuko pulled out his swords, jumped into a defensive stance, planting his feet to the ground, (after kicking Sokka in the back, and yelling, “Have your sword ready!”). Sokka, a little disoriented, grabbed his sword and mimicked the position Zuko was stood in. 

“Hey Zuko, what’s happening?”  
“I don’t know! I woke up, and she was here!”  
“What time is it?”  
A bit confused by the question, Zuko looked for the location of the sun in the sky. “The fourth hour after noon. Around about.”

The girl interjected, “Yeah it’s four past four. That was impressively close.”

Their attention was brought back to her. “Who are you?” Sokka asked.   
“I’m Judy. You two seem lost, are you ok?” 

Judy looked newly frightened, most likely because of the two teenagers with swords, but Sokka and Zuko failed to recognise this. Sokka looked at Zuko with shock, and said, “Joo Dee?”  
“Um, no, just Judy.”  
Zuko looked at Sokka questioningly, so Sokka elaborated with, “Joo Dee was our guide in Ba Sing Se. She was the first person to deny the war. Y’know, the whole, ‘there is no war in Ba Sing Se’ thing they were all obsessed with?”  
“Ba Sing Se? This girl can’t be Joo Dee, she has yellow hair and isn’t wearing green.”  
“Well I’m wearing red, and I’m not Fire Nation!”  
“Well you live there!”

Judy, ignoring the confused comment about blonde hair, asked, “Where’s Ba Sing Se? Is that in China? Is there some Asian war I don’t know about?”

Sokka said, “China? Asian?”, at the same time Zuko said, “Sokka she doesn’t know about the war.”  
“She could be lying.”  
“She doesn’t seem harmful. She’s only a kid.”

Seeing the two boys as less of a threat now they’d lowered their swords and started bickering, she interrupted saying, “I’m 16, and you two can’t be much older. I haven’t heard of any war. Are you two from around here?”  
Zuko responded, “Where is here?”  
“America.”  
Sokka whispered, “Oh spirits, what the fuck.”   
Ignoring Sokka’s comment, Zuko said, “You’re right. We’re not much older. I’m Firelord Zuko, and this is Ambassador Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. I’m 17, Sokka’s 16.”  
“Do you have anywhere to stay? You seem a bit lost.”  
“No, um, no we don’t actually.”   
“Would you like to stay with me? I have a spare bedroom, and my parents are always away.”  
A bit confused, but relieved at her kindness, Zuko said, “Would- would that be ok?”  
“Of course!”  
Sokka and Zuko sheathed their respective weapons, and followed Judy. 

—————

A hurried official ran towards Katara. “Miss Katara!”  
Slightly disgruntled, Katara stopped practicing waterbending forms. “What?”  
“It’s your brother and the Firelord. They were practicing their swordsmanship together, when they both suddenly collapsed! And they’re still out!”  
“Oh spirits.”

As the pair quickly walked towards the palace infirmary, the palace official quickly said to Katara, “Just to double check, you’re aware that earlier this year both the Firelord and your brother requested that if they were to get ill of injured, you would be their healer?”  
“I- no, I was not aware. They’re idiots.” The official nervously laughed at her comment.  
He then asked, “Do you have any idea what they were doing together?”  
“Practicing fighting.”  
“Seems odd that they’re close enough to do that, maybe-“  
“Oh cut it out. That’s my brother and my friend you’re talking about. The rumours are just that- rumours. And none of your business.”  
“Oh sorry ma’am-“  
“Ma’am? I’m 15! Walk faster.”

As they arrived in the infirmary, Katara bent some water from a basin around her hand, and held them around an inch above her brother’s head, and then moved them up and down his body. Looking confused she repeated these motions on the Firelord. She then turned to the awkwardly stood official and said, “Fetch General Iroh, I think Zuko would want him here. And fetch Aang, because I think this injury is the work of spirits.”  
The official nodded and swiftly left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka and Zuko spend their first day seeing the strange world of modern America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy. :)

“What is this again?” Zuko prodded at his mac and cheese awkwardly. When Judy was cooking, she had asked Zuko to grab them all forks, and pointed to the cutlery draw. Unsure about what she meant, Zuko opened the drawer, and upon seeing the chopsticks, figured she must have meant them. Now the three teenagers were sat eating their pasta with chopsticks. 

She smiled and said, “Mac and cheese.”  
Judy had realised fairly quickly that there was some sort of culture shock with these guys; whether it was the talk of a war and nations, the swords, the traditional asian clothes, the seeming confusion over the concept of whatever Asia was, or even their shock at her blonde hair, they seemed very lost. When they first saw her neighbourhood only about an hour before, they had looked over at each other with wide eyes at the modern architecture and technology, and the cars. Sokka, despite being frightened, kept cracking jokes and smiling, but Zuko had been very quiet and awkward. Being a bored teenager with absent parental figures, Judy had decided in a matter of minutes that she would take them under her wing and help them adapt to the world.   
“This would be better with meat.” Sokka muttered, just before being swiftly elbowed in the ribs by Zuko, and Judy chuckled under her breath. 

After a long, uncomfortably silent meal, Zuko asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, where will we be staying tonight?”  
“Oh, the last room down the hall on the left. Sorry, we only have one spare room.” Technically, Judy was lying, and they had two spare bedrooms, but she guessed that if they knew that, they would sleep separately, and that right then, they needed to be together.   
Zuko thanked Judy and bowed. Judy, unsure what to do, curtsied. Zuko looked slightly startled, but the corner of his lips turned upwards before he turned into the guest bedroom. She saw this as a win. Sokka on the other hand, stayed behind, and was covering his mouth trying to suppress laughter. In between escaping chuckles, Sokka said, “You... do it like.... this.” His laughter finally calming down after what felt like years, Sokka grabbed Judy’s hands, curled the right hand into a fist, and rested it just underneath her flat palm. He stepped aside and said, “Now bow from your hips- no not like that, more like this.” He demonstrated, and mimicking his movements, Judy tried again. Nodding Sokka said, “Perfect. If it helps, I didn’t know how to do that until about a year ago. Aang had to show us how.”  
“Aang?”  
“You haven’t heard of him or seen him?”  
“...No?”  
“Oh. Then... he’s a close friend of ours. But anyway, we were trying to blend in with the fire nation, and Aang hadn’t been there for _years_ , like, even before the war, so he went to a school to learn how kids lived, and then he learned the proper way to bow. Still calls Zuko ‘Flameo Hotman’ though.”   
“Huh.” After a moment’s hesitation, she had a small revelation, and turned to Sokka to say, “You said he went to a school to learn about life there?”  
“Yes.”  
“I’m gonna guess you two aren’t doing anything tomorrow?”  
“No. You want us to go to your school?”  
“I think it could be fun!”

—————

After a few minutes of casual conversation between Sokka and Judy, Zuko came out of the bedroom tenderly holding a book. “What’s this?”  
“Um... a book?”  
“That’s not a book. They’re different.”

Sokka picked up the book, and flicked to a page in the middle. He pointed at the letter ‘s’, and asked, “What word is that?”  
Judy replied, “That says space.”  
He then pointed to the ‘p’ and asked again, “What word is _that_?”  
“That’s still the same word.”  
“All of it? Up to here?” Sokka said, pointing to the ‘e’.   
“Yeah.”  
“Tui, that’s weird.”   
“How do you write?”  
“I’ll show you if you have anything for me to write with.”  
Judy turned around and grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from a nearby drawer. After looking at both the pen and Zuko slightly confusedly, he put the pen to paper, and started to scribble down some messy characters.   
“Agni, Sokka, is this your handwriting?”  
“Have you never seen me write before in meetings?”  
“No! I’m sat at the head of the table running the meetings!”  
“Well I didn’t get your fancy-schmancy education. Also, you try writing with this _contraption_ , it’s nearly impossible.” Sokka said, gesturing to the pen. Zuko took it, and after a first few wobbly characters, he got used to writing with a pen, and started to write in a long, elegant calligraphy. Seeing the characters, Judy quickly recognised them as mandarin. “Oh God, I’m taking you both to an American high school, and neither of you can read or write in English.”

—————

Zuko peeled himself from Sokka side, and walked over to the window. He peered out to look at the dark sky littered with twinkling stars, and saw that it was about the middle of the night. He quietly grabbed his dual swords, and walked over to they door.   
“Hey Zuko?”  
Crap, he’d been too loud. “Yeah?”  
“Where are you going?”  
“Nowhere, I’m coming back to bed.”  
“Ok. I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”  
As Sokka left the room, Zuko waited for a minute for him to be gone, and then quietly snuck out to the back garden. After closing the back door behind him, he turned around to see Sokka sat on the grass with his hands behind his back.  
“Hey Zuko. It’s my turn to catch you sneaking out.”  
“It’s not what it looked like- I swear- I was just- um-“  
“It’s fine. As long as you don’t leave me alone here.”  
“Don’t worry. I want to stay with you. I just needed some fresh air. I won’t leave. I don’t want to be stuck her alone.”  
Sokka smiled. “If I’m gonna be stuck in this hellhole with anyone, it’d be with you. Do you think Judy’s insane?”  
“I’d never wish insanity on anyone- you’ve seen what it did to my sister- but _Agni_ I hope so.” 

They both started laughing hysterically, and Sokka looked up at Zuko, (a rare occurrence, as he had long since surpassed his height, and was usually looking _down_ ), with glistening tears of laughter in his eyes. “Zuko?”  
“Yeah?”  
Sokka jumped up holding his sword. “I challenge you to a sword fight!”  
“When did you get your sword?”  
“I’ve had it the whole time.” He said shrugging.   
“But how did you-“  
Sokka slashed his sword at Zuko, cutting off his words as he dodged. Grinning, Zuko adjusted his grip on his swords, and swung them at Sokka, causing their swords to collide. As Sokka twisted his blade, Zuko slightly stumbled. “Are you getting out of practice Firelord? Too busy, um, firelording?”  
Zuko stopped for a moment. “Firelording?”   
Sokka swung his sword and said, “Aha! I just said that to throw you off!”  
Smiling, Zuko continued to fight, and said, “I’m sure you did.”

The pair continued to spar, throwing casual remarks at each other and laughing. At a particular stupid comment from Sokka about fire and tea, Zuko tripped into him, laughing. As Zuko lay on top of Sokka, who lay on the soft grass, they both laughed, forgetting what they had been going through that day. “Zuko you idiot, we could have both stabbed each other.” He giggled, his cheeks flushed.   
“It’s not my fault! I’m weaker at night! I rise with the sun!”  
“Well thank you Yue for helping me win! You do know that nighttime only weakens your bending.? Tui, you really are getting out of practice _Firelord_.”  
“Then we’re just going to have to practice more often, _Ambassador_.”  
To them, using their formal titles in an informal setting was the most hilarious thing in the world, so as Zuko rolled off of Sokka to lay beside him, they both continued to laugh like it was all they had left to do; and maybe it was. 

Zuko spoke quietly. “I love the night sky.”  
“Oh?”  
“I never really saw it at home. I only really went outside when I practiced firebending, or trained, or went out with friends- well Azula’s friends really. I was never out at night. Night was supposed to weaken our bending, and I never saw how beautiful it was. Why would I?”  
“I grew up seeing the sky every night. It’s not the same in the Fire Nation. You have lights everywhere. Back home the sky was beautiful. No light to obscure it. Just deep dark blues, with bright light dancing across. I used to think they were the spirits when I was really young.”  
“You’ll have to take me someday.”  
“You would love it. It’s beautiful. My family would love you.”  
“I would have to dress up warm.”  
“I’ll lend you my clothes. You’d suit blue.”  
“I’m the Firelord. You couldn’t find something red?”  
“For the _Firelord_? I’ll have to consider.” He dramatically tapped his chin. “Hmm, nah.”  
“The blue would clash with my scar.”   
Sokka started laughing at the comment. “You’re learning sarcasm!”  
Zuko smiled proudly. “I learned from the best.”  
“You’ll fit in great with the other teenagers tomorrow at school!” They both laughed at that, and turned to face each other, looking into each other’s eyes as they smiled. 

They took each other’s hand, and stayed laying there on the soft grass for hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know in the comments if there are any mistakes, or there’s anything you’d like to see! :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that was ok! I’m gonna try to update fairly regularly, I might post the second chapter in a couple of days, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. Please let me know if there are any grammar/ formatting mistakes (or just any mistakes in general). Comment if there’s anything you’d like to see in this fic! :)


End file.
